Twilight Sparkle found herself in pitch darkness. She feared that the queen had struck her blind. She called a light to her horn with her magic. The soft purple light of her horn lit the space dimly. But she could see hundreds of reflections of the light all around her. The dampness of the air told her that she was somewhere underground. She walked towards the nearest reflection. It was a crystal. A giant crystal. She was in a cave filled with thousands of them.

"Hello!?" Twilight yelled into the darkness. "Is anyone there!?" She heard only the echo of her own voice. And then the distant rumbles of a laugh getting closer. "Where am I?" The image of Queen Chrysalis magically appeared in the facets of the gems, still wearing Shining's appearance.

"The caves beneath Canterlot," Chrysalis answered in Shining's voice. "Once home to greedy unicorns who wanted to claim the gems that could be found inside. And now, your prison!"

"Help! Help!" Twilight screamed into the darkness.

"It's no use. No one can hear you. And no one will ever think to look for you either. Most ponies have forgotten that these caves even exist. Which is why they are the ideal place to keep the ones who try to interfere with my plans."

"Plans? What plans?" Twilight asked.

"Actually, I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan for Cadenza, of course," he said, flourishing his revolting ovipositor at her. "And then, the rest of your friends!"

"Don't you dare do anything to them you- you monster!"

"The only way to stop me is to catch me," he taunted.

Twilight fired a beam of magic at his image. The arcane bolt reflected off of the crystal facet and ricocheted about the room, narrowly missing her until it struck the dirt. The taunting image laughed and jumped from one crystal to another. Twilight would not be goaded into making the same mistake twice. She reached out with her magic and pulled a stone boulder from the ground beneath her hooves. She swung it around like a mace, smashing the image everywhere she saw it.

The commotion stirred the real Shining Armor from his emaciated lethargy in a nearby cave chamber. He looked towards the direction of the noise. Twilight came in like a wrecking ball. She followed the boulder in through the hole she had smashed in the wall of his small room.

Shining Armor realized that if Twilight was here, then she must have been sent here by that same shape-shifting creature. He didn't even want to think about what that thing had been doing while it ran around Canterlot with his face. The look of utter wrath on Twilight's face made him fear the worst.

"No, wait!" he yelped. She rushed him and pinned him to the ground. He was normally much stronger than Twilight, physically, but he was weak from not having eaten in days. "Please don't hurt me! Twilie, it's me! Please, you have to believe me! I've been imprisoned like you. The Shining who brought you down here was an impostor."

"Likely story!" she growled. Her horn glowed bright with her readied attack. He had been in the pitch dark for days. His tired eyes flittered closed in the glare. She would either save him, or kill him. He no longer cared which. She slammed him with a disenchantment spell to nullify the disguise. Her magic washed over him harmlessly. "Shining!?" she choked on the word as she reached down to cradle his crumpled body.

"Five more minutes..." he whimpered. It was as he once did in their youth when she would wake him for school. He skirted the edge of consciousness.

"Shining!" Twilight panicked. Her first aid response kicked in and she reached out with her magic, sending a shock to his adrenal gland. She screamed in the most commanding voice she could muster, "REVEILLE!"

His eyes shot open and he was on his hooves in an instant.

"First general order - ergh," he listed and staggered, nearly falling again. She caught him.

"Hey, hey, it's me," Twilight said, trying to keep his attention. An adrenaline rush could wake him, but it was no substitute for real nutrition. "We have to get out of here. I can teleport us, but I need a clear line of sight, away from these magic-sapping crystals." Twilight took up the same boulder and gave it another good swing, sending it through the far wall of the small room. It opened up into a larger cavern. "We need to move." She started walked, and helped him along with her. They made their way through the massive crystal cavern.

-

Meanwhile, far above them, Queen Chrysalis comfortably wore Shining Armor's appearance and walked back to the wedding hall to rejoin the rest of the ponies.

"Twilight's not feeling well," she told everypony in his voice. "But she said to go on with the wedding without her." Shining took up his place at the front of the hall and the music began to play, announcing Princess Cadance's imminent arrival. Everypony stood as the bride entered, preceded by the flower fillies, and followed by the long train of her wedding dress. Her expression was neutral. Her eyes were tinted dull green. The queen had her enthralled under her complete control at last.

True to Chrysalis's words, Twilight was very much not feeling well. Just as they reached the glimmering source of daylight on the far side of a wide chasm, she lurched and keeled over. Shining staggered beside her, but managed to keep himself standing. The numbing effects of the changeling serum had worn off again.

"Twilight? Are you okay?" he asked. She shook her head 'no', writhing on the ground as she clutched her abdomen. The first time, the pain was so excruciating she thought that she was dying. This time was so much worse that she hoped she was. She retched most of her breakfast into the dirt. Shining barely had the strength to keep up an illumination spell.

"Hurts!" she groaned through her clenched teeth. It hurt to breathe, let alone cry. There was no way she would be able to teleport them now in her state. "He... she... it, it had your face-"

"I know. I know, I'm sorry," Shining cried for her.

"She had a- it... she took me in the bedroom and..." she forced out the words. Shining clenched his eyes, dreading her words. She yelled, even as it pained her to do so. "She had your face! She raped me!"

That word. That one word cut Shining Armor to the core. It burned him like a red-hot poker. And it burned within him like a fire reignited. His horn flared brighter. Usually, a unicorn used vitality to cast magic. The same finite amount of energy that kept one awake for a day. Like coffee, potions could temporarily extend this vitality pool, but it was always finite. Use too much, and one would pass out. Shining was burning energy reserves that he did not have. He felt fever chills run through his body as he consumed slivers of his Soulfire to fuel his spell. Soulfire was a different, powerful source of magic. But it too, was finite. It was a weapon of last resort. Use too much... and it was fatal.

When Shining had joined the Royal Guard, he knew that it meant that his life could be in peril. He accepted that. He only hoped that his death would be for something, not of something.

The spell spread out over her abdomen, healing the damage the queen had done. Twilight's eyes fluttered open as the pain melted away and she looked up at him. Through the blur of her tears she could see the blue ethereal flame surrounding his horn. She knew what it meant.

"Stop!" she shrieked. She called light to her own horn and slapped his with her hoof, extinguishing his magic. Some had more than others, but nopony knew for sure how much Soulfire one had until it was too late. Any time a unicorn used it could be their last. "Are you crazy!?"

"You were in pain! I had to do something!" he said.

"But burning your soul? Were you really ready to die for me!?" she yelled.

Yes. Shining's response hitched in his tightened throat.

Twilight grabbed him and focused her spell. In a flash they were across the chasm, within a stone's throw of the cave's exit. They were finally clear of the crystals' interference. With another flash of her spell, they teleported back inside Canterlot Castle. They were as close as she could manage to get to the ceremony. They made haste, cutting through the reception banquet hall. Shining's stomach forced him to run over to one of the serving tables. His eyes lit up.

"I had Pinkie Pie make them for you. I know it's your favorite," Twilight said. Shining immediately began to eat the first cream pie he could grab. He ate so fast it was like watching somepony barf in reverse. He grabbed a can of espresso grounds and dumped some on the table. "Shining, wait, don't eat-" He took a drinking straw and snorted a not-insignificant amount of the brown powder.

"Oh FUCK!" he groaned as his head snapped back up and his eyes shot wide open. "A little trick from being on the Guard third shift."

"Okay. Are you ready?" Twilight asked.

"Ready doesn't even fucking describe it!" he yelled with fresh vitality, feeling like his fur was trying to crawl off of his skin.

-

Meanwhile, in the wedding hall, Princess Celestia was concluding the ceremony, "Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, it is my great pleasure to pronounce you-"

"I OBJECT!" Twilight screamed as she kicked in the doors.

"You're too late," Shining Armor said from the altar, standing beside Cadance. "We're past that part. And aren't you supposed to be writhing in pain?" Everypony looked at him. "Uh, I mean, I'm so glad that you aren't writhing in pain, sweet sister."

"She's not your sister!" The real Shining Armor said from behind Twilight. "She's mine!"

"Two Shining Armors!?" the ponies in the audience gasped. "How is this possible?"

"He's a changeling!" Shining Armor said. "It takes the form of somepony you love and feeds of your love for them!"

"No. He's the changeling!" the other Shining Armor said.

"I'm sure there's a way that we can peacefully resolve this with reason," Cadance said in a dulcet tone, enthralled by the Changeling Queen's control magic.

"How about we all have a nice, tall glass of calm down?" the fake Shining Armor said, standing beside Cadance. Chrysalis was stalling for time. The real Shining Armor glared at the impostor.

"How about a nice tall glass of SUPPRESSING FIRE!" he yelled, charging at the altar. His horn fired a barrage of magical attacks at the disguised queen. They were all easily deflected by a shield of green magic. Distracted, the queen did not see Twilight teleport to out-flank her. She saw the purple flash in her peripheral vision just before Twilight hit her with the disenchantment spell. Chrysalis's disguise melted away in a heat-less green flame, revealing her true form. Another gasp came up from the crowd as ponies began to scatter.

"Enough!" Chrysalis yelled. Her super-charged magic sent out a concussive blast that sent the two siblings tumbling. The massive clock tower in the center of the city chimed the hour. A low chuckle bubbled up from the queen, erupting into a full, evil laugh. "It's too late. Canterlot is MINE!"

"Oh yeah?" Celestia said, her own horn glowing ready with her own attack. "You and what army?"

"Hmm," Chrysalis hummed. "That's a good question. Hmm. What army indeed? Hmm? HMM!"

HMMMMMMMMMM

The hum grew louder into a omnipresent buzz. The sky grew dark as changeling soldiers filled the sky, blotting out the sun. Celestia's eyes went wide in horror. She reared up and drew a deep breath. She let forth the full, unbridled force of her Canterlot Voice.

"BATTLE STATIONS!" Celestia bellowed, shaking the very foundations of the mountain with her voice. Sirens went up across the city as the Canterlot Royal Guard mobilized to counter the attack. Celestia's glare bared down on the queen. "As for you, now that your true self has been revealed, I can protect my subjects from you!" The princess lofted into the air and leveled her attack at the queen.

But Celestia had a problem. She to be careful. She lived in a world of matchsticks. She always had to take constant care not to break something, or somepony. Never allowing herself to lose control, even for an moment or somepony could die. She could have easily incinerated Chrysalis where she stood. But if she used her full power, she could just as easily reduce the entire stone building to molten slag. Everypony she cared about, and everything she was fighting for, would be destroyed. Cadance and Shining Armor, a millennium of work, were within range of the queen. Celestia traded power for precision. A beam of focused magic fired from her horn at the changeling.

Chrysalis had far less restraint.

Her magical counterattack forced back Celestia's beam until it reached her horn, knocking her from the air. Her alabaster body fell limp to the floor as her golden crown tumbled across the stone tile.

"Ah! Cadance's alicorn love is even stronger than I thought!" Chrysalis gloated. "Consuming it has made me even more powerful than Celestia!"

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight Sparkle and her friends rushed to help her.

"The Elements of Harmony," Celestia groaned from the floor. "You must get to them and use their power to defeat the queen!" The six ponies ran to the exit and opened the door. An entire battalion of changelings waited on the other side.

"Oh, I don't think so," Chrysalis purred, manifesting a green pod encasing Celestia and suspending her from the ceiling. "I will not be another statue for your garden!" The changelings rushed at Twilight and her friends. They stood their ground, even as they were overwhelmingly outnumbered. Out in the city, the guards fared little better. The unicorns were out maneuvered by the changelings flying around them. The pegasi were outgunned by the changelings' magic. Twilight and her friends managed to hold their own- for now.

"You still try to fight? Can't you see that it's hopeless?" Chrysalis mocked Twilight Sparkle.

"That mare won't quit as long as she can still draw breath," Celestia said from her cocoon prison. "None of my little ponies will."

Shining Armor managed to slink away from the fray to reach his bride. Poor Cadance stood at the altar, still under the queen's control. He looked at her, at her blank expression, her dull eyes. He wept and hugged her. She didn't deserve this, any of it. To see everypony around him suffering, he felt a fate worse than death. He felt useless. He touched his horn to hers and gave her the one thing he had left. His love for her. Their horns arced and her eyes fluttered to alertness, shaking the green haze away.

"Shining?" she asked, awoken from her magic stupor.

"Cadie!?" he practically cried. "Cadie, we have to get you out of here!" He zapped the green goo binding her hooves and led her to the side exit. Her escape was halted when Chrysalis flew over and landed on the long tail of her dress.

"Where do you think you're going, Food?" Cadance's head turned and glared at her. Her eyes burned with rage at this... this thing that had ruined her special day. She turned and faced her. Chrysalis readied her horn in defense. She could not kill Cadenza. Not yet. She was too valuable as a resource. She merely needed to deflect the princess's feeble magical attack, and subdue her again.

But the thing about magic-users, especially when it comes to combat, is that they tend to fall into the trap of only thinking in terms of magic. They make all of their plans around it. And, well... everypony has a plan until they get punched in the face.

And nopony plans on a pretty pink pony princess punching you in the face.

"Get off my train!" Cadance growled. She brought her gold-clad hoof back and socked Chrysalis in the jaw hard enough to damn-near unscrew her head right around off of her neck. The queen was sent tumbling.

"Shining! Your spell! Perform your shield spell for the city!" Cadance shouted.

"What good would that do!?" Chrysalis laughed, shaking off the blow as she got back to her hooves. "My changelings already roam free!"

"No!" Shining tried to conjure his spell. "My power is useless. I don't have the strength to repel them."

"My love will give you strength," Cadance said.

"What a lovely but absolutely ridiculous sentiment," Chrysalis cackled.

"What!?" Cadance scoffed. "So your entire race gains strength from the pilfered love of others. A method of attaining power that you just utilized to vanquish Celestia. But when somepony else tries the exact same thing, right in front of you, it's a ridiculous sentiment!?"

"..."

"Yeah. Think before you talk shit!" Cadance put her horn to Shining's and helped him power his spell. He cast the spell and the magic shield radiated out from them in a magenta explosion. It passed by ponies harmlessly while it slammed into the queen. She screamed out as she, and the rest of the changeling horde were flung into the air and sent scattering to the distant horizon. "Bitch!"

Twilight Sparkle ran over to where Celestia laid on the floor, freed from her cocoon prison. She helped the alabaster princess to her hooves.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine," Celestia assured her. "You have a real wedding to put together."

Twilight and her friends did so in record time. While Cadance was having her dress repaired with Rarity, Shining Armor pulled Twilight aside.

"Hey, can we talk?" he asked her. Twilight triple-checked her check list to make sure that she hadn't missed anything when she double-checked the checklist. She looked at him and nodded as she put the list away in her bag. He led her someplace where they could talk in private. He opened the door to her room. Pieces of the broken mirror were still on her dresser. Twilight felt a cold chill run down her spine.

"Not in here," she said with a shudder. "I- I can't." He remembered what she said about what the queen had done to her.

"Okay. It's okay." He hugged her and they walked to his room instead. He opened the door and let her inside before closing the door behind him. "I- I'm sorry," he said. Twilight turned and looked at him.

"For what?"

"For..." his eyes welled up. After the adrenaline rush of survival in battle had finally passed, he broke down at her hooves. "For so much!" he cried. "For everything! I should have talked to you sooner, like I had promised. I should have told you about Cadance and I. I should have told you..." he trailed off into sobbing. He did his best to get it out of his system and compose himself. "Twi, I was down in that cave for two days. I was so sure that I was going to die. But I promised myself that if I ever got the chance to see you again... that I would tell you the truth."

"What truth?" she asked.

"I know things between us have been... strained," he said as diplomatically as he could. "And I know I haven't helped things. And now this whole thing with... Cadance. And for this whole time I knew that you loved me like... like you do. And I-"

"Shining..." Twilight said as he stepped closer. Shining felt like a hoof was crushing his throat, keeping him from getting the words out.

"Twilie, I- I do, too." he said at last. "I love you. Stars above, I hate myself for it, but I do." He reached out and held her in his hooves. He leaned down and kissed her. He kissed her like she had always wanted him to.

Right up until that moment.

"Shining, no." Twilight put her hoof up to his chest and pushed him away, gently, but firmly. "We can't- I can't!"

"I'm not married yet," he said.

"It's not that. I mean, it is, partly. But when the queen..." she trailed off. "When she did that to me, she was wearing your face. She took advantage of my feelings for you and she-" Twilight choked up. "And now when I look at you, it's all I can think about."

"Twilie-"

"Shining, I do love you. I do. But it's just too soon," she said.

"Twi, we're... we're not going to have another chance. I'm going to be married in a few hours."

"And that's the other thing," Twilight added, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I know how it feels to be the other mare. I can't to do that to Cadance. We can't. She doesn't deserve that."

"I know," Shining admitted, sitting down beside her. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," Twilight said. "You were right. You were right all along. All those times that you told me that we shouldn't feel this way. That we couldn't. It had nothing to do with the law at all. It was always about somepony getting hurt. And somepony is going to get hurt from this, Shining. There is no avoiding it."

"So what do we do?" he asked.

"We choose who gets hurt," Twilight said simply. "Or rather, I do."

"What do you mean?"

"I choose myself," she said.

"I don't want you to get hurt," Shining said.

"I know. But it's not your choice. It's mine," she said. "You're going to go out there, and you're going to marry Cadance. And I'm going to be your best mare and be happy for you. And then tomorrow, I'm going to be your sister. And that's it."

"And that's it? I still love you. And I know you still love me. We can't just wish these feelings away. You don't think this is going to hurt me too!?"

"I know it will. And I'm sorry about that. But this is the price we have to pay for indulging in this," she motioned her hoof between them. "You're going to get married, and have your own family. And I'll move on too. And you and I will look back on this chapter of our lives and laugh at how silly we behaved."

"Silly!? I was ready to die for you! I still am!" he said.

"Your Soulfire will replenish with time. You just need to do things that are good for your soul. You need to live for Cadance," she said.

"And I will, but..." he huffed, feeling everything slipping away from him. "Is this it then?" he asked. She nodded.

"Can I at least kiss my lover goodbye? One last time?" Twilight looked away.

"Shining, I don't know-" He held her chin in his hoof and looked into her eyes.

"Hey. It's me. Okay?" he asked. She hesitated at first. But she looked in his eyes.

"Yeah."

"Yeah?" he asked. She nodded. He turned to her and held her closer as he brought his lips to hers. She closed her eyes and pursed her lips as well. He kissed her. She kissed him back. This feeling, this feeling of being in his hooves. There was something indescribable about it. It was beyond the physical senses, or even magic. It was this feeling of safety, and security in his love. Something that a changeling, even a changeling queen, just couldn't fake. They both melted together into the kiss. Her tongue was the first to rush out to meet his. He happily obliged as the fell together onto the bed. The rest of the world melted away around them. All of their fear and doubt and responsibilities faded.

"I love you," she said before kissing him again.

"I love you too, Twilie," he said back, kissing her harder. Speaking of harder.

"Mmph, Shining!?" Twilight gasped, looking down at his erection, sandwiched between them.

"Sorry Twi... I-" he paused. "You know what? No! I'm not sorry! This is for you. I'm not ashamed of it anymore. I want you, and I admit it!" He slid it back and forth against her dress until he hiked it up over her waist. He slipped underneath it to slide it directly against her marehood. She thought that she was going to be strong enough to say no. If not for their own sake, at least for Cadance. But Cadance be damned, she wanted him.

"I want you, too," she moaned. "I want this." He slid himself back, letting the tip dip down along her marehood. With a bit of pressure his broad tip was poised, pressing at her entrance. It wasn't like it was a line that they hadn't crossed before. But they needed to be crystal clear about what this meant.

"This has to be the last time," Shining said. Twilight mumbled an objection. "Twi, this has to be it!" She nodded.

"Okay. Fine. At least this time I know," she said. "And this is good for the soul, too."

"Twi-"

"Come on. I've waited long enough for this. Don't make me wait any more!" she all but begged. He pressed a bit harder. Twilight's wet marehood parted and then- "Aah," Twilight gasped, feeling the head of her brother's penis pop inside her tight pussy. She had wanted and waited for this moment for so long. And it was finally happening. For real, this time.

Twilight flashed back to the queen. Her body stiffened and her vaginal clenched uncomfortably. Shining recognized her whimper from discomfort, not pleasure. He looked down at her grimace.

"Are you okay?" he asked. She forced her eyes open and looked at him. She looked at Shining Armor. Her brother, the stallion that cared about her. This wasn't the thing that forcefully pinned her against the dresser. This was the pony that loved her, waiting to see if she was okay. She pushed away the thoughts of Chrysalis. Twilight refused to let her win. She refused to let her take this away from her. She took a deep breath and relaxed.

"Yeah, I just- I forgot how big you were," she said, not wanting to spoil this for them. Her compliment earned a grin from him. She smiled back. It was nice. This is nice, Twilight thought to herself. Her feeling of safety and security in his hooves returned. The queen was gone. She couldn't hurt them anymore.

Shining started moving again when he felt her relax, pushing a little deeper. Twilight looked down between them, watching his penis sliding further into her vagina.

"We're really doing this," she thought out loud. Shining let out a half-chortle.

"Yeah, we are," he said, unable to keep the smile from his face. His medial ring slipped inside her.

"We're making love," she said. "We're making love!" she repeated, as though she was expecting to wake up from this dream. He hilted her, his hips against hers. She felt his balls against the dock of her tail.

"We've done it before," he said, as he pulled out and thrusting again. Twilight shook her head.

"Not like this," she breathed. "That first time, we..." she struggled to form her thoughts amid her pleasure. "I don't know what that was. We were both just horny and... I don't know. Confused?" Shining held her tighter and his hips started to gain a rhythm, moving in and out of her. "It was fucking," she said. The cuss sounded strange to Shining in her voice. "But this is..."

"Making love," he agreed. She looked up at him and they kissed again as he continued to rut her. She hummed into his mouth as he pleased her. He broke the kiss after a moment to catch a breath. She scrutinized every detail of his face. His expression that he had while having sex with her. She made a conscious effort to embed it in her memory. Every time she saw him, she wanted to remember this moment, how he looked while having sex with his beloved sister.

"At least this time I can cherish it," Twilight said. She focused on the feeling of him inside her. She had never forgotten how it felt the night he took- no, she gave him her virginity. She bestowed it upon him. She never forgot that feeling. But she never quite remembered it as well as she felt it in this very moment. Her memory didn't serve it justice. It was simply incapable. And this was so very different. They were not teenagers overcome with hormones. They were adults. And they were choosing this. They chose each other. They chose to make love. Twilight could feel the slight, upward curvature of his penis hitting her g-spot. She felt the pressure in her tummy building.

Twilight wrapped her hooves around her brother and pulled herself up to him, pressing her cheek into his shoulder. His mane draped over her face. She could smell the sweat from his exertion. She focused on the scent. She knew that smell was the sense tied closest to memory. She breathed in his enchanting musk as she focused on the feeling of him moving in and out of her. She felt the sensation in her belly growing stronger, like a rope being tied up into knots, being pulled tighter and tighter, threatening to snap.

She focused on the image of his expression. She remembered every detail with intent. Her magic reached out and gently cupped his balls. The sensation caught him by surprise, eliciting a moan of pleasure from him. All of this she tied to his scent. She wanted to remember all of this each time she hugged him from this day forward. Every time she hugged him, she would press her face into his mane, smell his scent, and remember this exact moment. This moment that her brother made her-

"Shining!" she cried out. The rope snapped free with her climax. Her pussy quivered and trembled around him as he continued to move inside her. Twilight had gotten herself off in the past with her magic or her hoof. Both failed to continue once she went over the top in climax. But Shining just kept going as she came. Her pussy squeezed and milked his cock. Her peak of pleasure stretched out into a longer experience. It was almost too much to bear. Her eyes fluttered and looked up at him, trying to focus her vision.

"I came," she breathed.

"I could tell," he said with a smile. His hips made wet slaps against hers, both of them soaked from her marecum. "You soaked me, and the bed." Twilight giggled. "Woah." Shining's knees nearly gave out feeling her muscles spasm around his cock as she laughed. "You keep giggling like that and you're gonna make me cum," he said. Twilight felt a devious grin stretch across her lips.

"Oh yeah? Is your little sister going to make you cum?" she asked. His rhythm paused for a moment.

"Come on. Don't make this any weirder than it already is," he said. Of course, like any good sibling, when told to not do something that made the other uncomfortable-

Twilight wrapped her hooves around him and pulled him down to her, taking his balance off of his legs. She gave him a shove with her magic and rolled him onto the bed. With him still inside her, she rolled with him and was now on top, straddling him.

"Am I going to make my big brother cum?" she asked again, running her hooves over his chest as she started to move up and down on him.

"Twi, slow down!" he said.

"Why?" Twilight teased, rubbing her clit with her hoof as she rode him.

"Slow down or else I'll-"

"Or else what? You'll cum?"

"Yes!"

"Yes what?"

"Yes, I'll cum!"

"Your little sister is gonna make you cum?" she asked again, feeling another orgasm coming quickly.

"Twi-"

"Come on, say it! Say it big brother." Her hoof was a blur on her stretched pussy as she continued to ride him. "I'm so close!"

"I- My little sister is gonna make me cum!" he cried out. Twilight felt her entire world lurch as she came again on his cock. She fell forward onto him as she came, pressing her cheek against his.

"Oh! My! GOSH!" she cried out into his ear, giving him acute tinnitus. Not that he noticed. Her entire body shook with what was easily the strongest orgasm of her entire life. All he could feel was her pussy milking his cock again, and his lap getting soaked with her fresh, hot nectar. He grabbed her hips with his hooves and he thrusted up into her rapidly, feeling himself quickly approaching the point of no return.

Twilight felt his cock flare inside her, stretching her more than she'd ever been before. She knew he was about to cum. Shining felt his balls tighten. His magic grasped her hips to pull her off of him.

In a flash, Twilight put her mouth on his horn. The wetness of her mouth grounded the spell. It felt like she was licking a nine-volt battery, but she didn't stop. She would not be denied this. She pinned his hooves down with hers. He was stronger than her, but in this position, she had all the leverage. And his orgasm turned his muscles to jelly. She slammed her hips down on him a final time, feeling him bottom out inside her. It was a perfect fit. Lock and key. His cock flared wider, stretching her deepest barrier just slightly, his urethra was perfectly aligned with the opening to her cervix. She felt him begin to throb deep inside her. Her cumming pussy sucked on his dick just as her mouth suck on his horn.

"Twilie!" he cried out, both in pleasure and panic. He came. He came in torrents and he couldn't stop. He didn't want to stop. She felt gush after gush of his hot semen flooding her stuffed vagina. His wide flare made a tight seal, giving his cum no exit. She pushed herself down on him harder. His potent seed had no where to go, forced deeper inside her fertile womb. She didn't let go of his hooves or his horn until she was sure he'd given her every last drop. Even then, she didn't relent until he began to go soft. His flare shrank, letting the tight muscles of her cervix seal shut.

His penis softened and retreated back into his sheath, pulling out of her with a wet 'plop'. They both panted like they had just galloped a marathon. The haze of their lust lifted away, leaving the cold shock of sobriety in its wake.

"Shit!" he yelped, nearly tossing her off of him, onto the bed beside him. He looked at his sister's pussy, still glistening with her wetness. A small dribble of his cum leaked from her. It was not nearly as much as he knew he had just unloaded into her. "You took a potion, or did a spell right? A pregnancy spell?"

"A pregnancy spell? You... want me to get pregnant?" she asked.

"An anti-pregnancy spell! Whatever!"

"Whatever? Kind of a big distinction between the two," she said.

"TWI!"

"Would you relax? I've got it covered, okay?" she said.

"Okay. Okay. Shit." Shining rubbed his forehead with his hoof. "So that just happened."

"And..."

"And?"

"And I loved it," Twilight said, smiling and rolling on the bed. Shining just looked at her, still in shock. He thought he knew what he was doing going into it. But now that it happened, it still just felt so surreal. "You loved it too, right?"

"Yeah," he answered honestly.

"But?" she asked, sensing his hesitation. He shrugged.

"I don't know. I just feel like I just robbed a store. Like I'm going to get caught any moment."

"Well, we did just commit a crime," Twilight said with a devilish grin.

"I don't just mean that, but I do also mean that," he said. "I just feel like... like something bad is going to happen."

"Shining, the city just got invaded a couple hours ago. What worse thing could you be afraid of?" she asked.

"Don't tempt fate!" he said. "I just feel like-" Shining looked at the clock on the wall. "Oh shit! Like we're gonna be late!"

Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle quickly made themselves decent and fixed up their respective formal wear in time for the wedding ceremony. They got into place at the altar, and Fluttershy's bird choir began to sing, announcing Cadance's arrival. Again. Cadance looked lovely in the dress Rarity had made for her.

"Mares, and gentlecolts," Celestia began, "we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of the real Princess Mi Amore Cadenza-"

"Princess Cadance is fine," Cadance said. Behind Cadance, Celestia could see the smug expression on Velvet from her daughter's preference to her birth name over the elaborate surname Celestia had given her. A small victory amid playing along with Celestia's grand scheme.

"The union of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor," Celestia resumed. "The strength of their commitment is clear. The power of their love, undeniable. May we have the rings, please?" Spike presented the wedding rings. Celestia's magic placed them on each of their horns. "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Everypony cheered for the happy couple. Now it was Celestia's turn to look smug. It had been a roller coaster of a day. She had been so close, so close to losing everything. But as she watched Cadance kiss her unbeknownst brother, she knew that the fruits of her labor would soon be at hoof. So long as nothing else came between them.

Twilight Sparkle stood nearby, watching her brother kiss his marefriend. Or rather, kiss his wife now. Like Velvet, it was bittersweet for her. At once she felt deep in her heart her selfish desire that she didn't want things to go like this. But at the same time, she knew it had to be this way. At the very least, she could be happy for them.

Still, Twilight had her last time with her brother. She took efforts to remember it vividly, always. She would remember it every time she smelled his scent. Every time she would visit and hug him at Hearth's Warming, at his birthday... at his wedding reception.

Shining and Cadance stepped out onto the balcony behind the altar to greet the cheering crowds filling the Canterlot streets below. Rainbow Dash performed her Sonic Rainboom to signal the happy news to everypony from there to the horizon. The wedding party filed out of the ceremony hall and headed down to the Canterlot Garden courtyard for the reception.

Pinkie Pie consulted her party-planner log. The afternoon reception had been pushed back, due to invasion, she wrote as a note in the log. Now it was an early-evening reception. Everypony watched at Shining and Cadance had their first dance as husband and wife. As it neared dusk, Princess Luna joined the event.

"Hello everypony. Did I miss anything?" Luna asked.

"Miss anything?" Celestia asked her sister, incredulously. "How about everything!? Where were you?"

"I was sleeping. I sleep during the day. I told you I was going to be sleeping for the wedding. You knew that." Luna defended.

"The city was invaded! How did you not notice?"

"I use a sound-proofing spell during the day."

"I called for battle stations in my full Canterlot voice. Rainbow Dash did a sonic Rainboom!"

"What part of sound-proof are you not understanding?" Luna asked.

Twilight quickly motioned for Pinkie Pie to get the music going to defuse the situation before there was another battle royal. Pinkie Pie ran over to the DJ equipment and pulled a DJ out of her pocket to run the DJ equipment. She always kept a DJ in her pocket for DJ emergencies, and quarreling alicorn sisters certainly qualified. Vinyl Scratch bid farewell to her friends, Lintball and Gumwrapper, and proceeded to play music.

Twilight mistook this moment to mean that it was time for karaoke. She grabbed the microphone and started singing. At least she could sing better than she danced. Once Twilight finished singing, Pinkie wrestled the microphone away from the unicorn.

"Alright everypony," Pinkie said, looking at her reception timeline. "Next up we have the Family Dance!"

Shining Armor looked to his mother, Velvet. She walked out to join him on the dance floor. But they both looked at the 'orphan' Cadance. Cadance looked to where Celestia had been standing, hoping that she and Luna had made up. The royal sisters were both markedly absent.

"Where did aunt Tia go?" Cadance asked. Everypony looked to see the sun setting and the moon rising. "Oh, I guess they left to take care of that."

Up in Luna's bedchambers, the sun wasn't the only thing going down.

Cadance walked over to Night Light and extended her hoof. Night Light gulped. His eyes looked to Velvet who gave him the subtlest of nods. He took Cadance's hoof and walked out onto the dance floor with her. They began to dance as the next song played.

"So..." Cadance said quietly as she danced with Night.

"So..." he said back, equally awkward.

"So are we just going to pretend that-"

"Yes," Night said quickly.

"...that nothing ever happened between us?" Cadance finished her question anyway.

"Yes!" he whispered harder. They danced a bit more in silence.

"It was nice though," she said. He gave a neutral hmm. "Wasn't it?" she teased with a little smile.

"...Yeah."

"I wouldn't have minded another round. But now I'm married too and... I suppose it is weird now that you're my..."

"Father-in-law?" he asked.

"Yeah," she laughed, trying to break the tension. "I suppose it's probably too soon to..." she trailed off, discarding the comment.

"To what?" he asked.

"To... I just, I've never had anypony to call 'Dad'," she said. "I was looking forward to the day I..." She looked over at Shining and then back at Night. "And of all the stallions, it ended up being you," she said as her smile wilted. Night Light looked at his estranged daughter.

"It's- it's okay, I wouldn't mind. I- I'd like that, actually. I know Vel would, too," he said.

"Okay... Dad," She said, trying it on. He hugged his daughter. She hugged him back, trying to not let her mascara run.

-

Across the floor, Shining and Velvet danced together. But something made them feel like they were miles away. Not just from the party, but from each other. Velvet was the first to notice.

"Hey," she said to her spaced-out son. "You in there?" she teased. Shining shook his head and looked at her, forcing himself to be present in the moment.

"Yeah, sorry. It's just... it's been a day," he said.

"You're telling me!" Velvet sighed. "You should have seen your father when Celestia called 'battle stations'. He grabbed some ceremonial weapons and armor off the castle walls and got right in it with the others guards holding off the horde and defending the other guests."

"Once a Guard, always a Guard, eh?" Shining asked. Velvet nodded.

"So, the invasion... is that why you look so tired?" Velvet asked. Shining was indeed tired. He was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. After everything that had happened that day. Being trapped in the cave, escaping the cave, the invasion, the queen, Cadance...

And Twilight.

"I just have a lot on my mind," he said honestly. "I guess after everything that's happened, I'm just worried that something's gonna... that something bad could happen." Velvet felt exactly the same way.

"Don't be silly," Velvet humored him in the face of her own fears. He could still tell something was wrong.

"What about you?" he asked. "You seem off, yourself as well." She looked into his eyes. She knew she couldn't keep her feelings hidden from him.

"I guess I've just been worried, myself. I've been seeing you less and less since you moved out. And I was just worried that you were trying to avoid me," she said.

"Avoid you? Why?" he asked. She blushed.

"Because we... because you and I have a very... uh, specific relationship," she said quietly. "I was worried that you resented me for... that. Regretted what happened."

"What? No!" he blurted. It was what he meant to say, though more blunt than he had intended. His quiet voice lowered to a whisper. "I mean- I mean I know that we have a... special thing that... most colts don't have with... their mom." Velvet blushed harder in shame. "And I know it's strange, and wr-" Shining was about to say 'wrong', but he stopped himself. Firstly, it would have been hurtful for her to hear it. And secondly, "I don't think it's wrong," he said, finally honest with his own feeling in light of everything that had happened recently.

"But what about Twilight?" Velvet asked.

"Twilight would agree with me," he assured her. "She's fine." He almost believed it himself. But to be fair, Twilight's brother-infatuation aside, she really was doing well.

"Thank you," Velvet said, hugging him closer. "I needed to hear that." Shining hugged her back.

"I love you," he said. Velvet wasn't precisely sure how he meant it. And now, neither was he. But in any case, her shame had evaporated.

"I love you too," Velvet replied. She meant it as a mother, but she wondered if he thought otherwise.

So did he.

-

Twilight Sparkle watched them dance as a server walked by with a tray of champagne glasses.

"Drink, Madam?" he asked.

"No. No alcohol for me," Twilight said, putting her hoof to her tummy.